


Illness

by darkrogue1 (Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse)



Category: Kyou Kara Maou!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-08
Updated: 2007-01-08
Packaged: 2018-07-29 14:10:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7687552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse/pseuds/darkrogue1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something is wrong with Conrad… and there is nothing Yuuri can do to help him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Illness

**Author's Note:**

> AN: This story can stand alone but should need a sequel. However I have no idea how to continue it yet, so bear with it.
> 
> Beta-read by [](http://slytherisa.livejournal.com/profile)[**slytherisa**](http://slytherisa.livejournal.com/).

It had started rather innocently. Aches in his body, like stiff muscles but deeper… Conrad had not complained: he had already felt worse. His movements had slowed, however, and some gestures had made him wince. His friends and family started to notice it.

"I’m just getting old," he reassured them all with a smile. "I‘m all right, I‘ve had worse."

But deep down he felt something was not quite right. It was getting easier for him to tire. He woke up aching; nights did not bring rest anymore.

He went to see Gisela then, quietly and for efficiency: his duty was to watch over the Maou, and for the king’s security it was best when he was in his best shape. He could not afford to stay too long like this, he could not risk it to worsen. He had a job, he was needed.

Gisela ran some tests but did not find anything noticable. She confirmed his feelings, however: something indeed was not quite right, but she did not know what it was.

Yuuri and the others got wind of this visit and asked about it. When he told them, Murata asked what his symptoms were; when he heard, his face fell.

"You have an idea of what it is," Conrad said. And the Great Sage nodded grimly.

"It could be cancer."

From his strange way of learning English -- NASA‘s method -- Conrad knew what it was. Being from Earth, Yuuri knew it too.

"But it could be rheumatism as well, or simple fatigue, or something else entirely."  Murata went on, but the worry on his face was visible: he feared the first option was true.

"Is there a way to know for sure?" was the next question. And Murata slowly and dubiously nodded.

Murata contacted Jose Rodriguez so he could make arrangements for further examinations, and Conrad was sent back to Earth.

Murata reassured the others, and they did not worry: it really could be something else entirely. He himself did his best to persuade himself all was right. Yuuri worried, however; he felt clearly then how much he needed Conrad to be there, at his side. Maybe not all the time, but just to know he was there, somewhere, and that if he needed him Conrad would always be there to listen. Doubt found its way into his heart; however much he tried to persuade himself of the contrary, he feared Murata’s first guess was true.

When Conrad came back from Earth, he was as calm and as smiling as always, and Yuuri hoped everything would be all right.

But the next words that came from Conrad’s lips sent his whole world tumbling and crashing down.

"I have myeloma." He said.

Yuuri’s mind blanked and he listened to the rest in shock while Conrad calmly explained his condition. It was a cancer of the bone marrow, a deadly one. It was still in an early stage though, and there was hope that he could be treated. He went on to explain how he would have to get regular medical checks, until the illness had progressed enough so that it could be treated. He would get chemotherapy then, and maybe it would work.

People were shocked, and worried, but life did not stop.

Conrad went on with his business as usual, living like he always did. He faced his condition and spoke of it naturally -- if ever sadly. He described how he could feel something working in his bones, eating at him, especially when he was lying down at night. He spoke his discomfort for others to clearly know it, but never complaining or exaggerating it: he was just stating facts. He laughed and smiled with the others, and told them how of course one must enjoy life as usual, else death would truly win.

It hurt Yuuri whenever Conrad spoke like that. He smiled and nodded at the words, and he knew it was sensible, he knew he could agree to it. But his heart was tense and heavy, and his own laugh was but a small echo of Conrad‘s. He enjoyed every moment with his godfather, but whenever he was alone, or when he woke up at night, he cried.

He cried for fear, he cried in helplessness. He cried because Conrad was very important to him and he could not think of life without him. He mourned the fact that he was powerless. Even as the Maou he could not fend off this new enemy. He cried thinking of how Conrad faced all this with courage, acknowledging his fear but not letting it show, so that he could support the others.

Yuuri felt upset with himself: it was Conrad who was ill, yet it was he who was cheering them all up. Yet Yuuri could not do it. He could not offer Conrad what Conrad was offering him. When Conrad talked he could only listen, listen and nod and try to smile. He wanted to speak with Conrad about it, but each time he even tried to formulate a sentence alluding to Conrad’s death, a painful ball rose in his throat and strangled his words… so he stayed silent.

He could feel how Conrad too must need reassurance. He should need it more than any of them. But Yuuri could not give that to him. Yuuri cried in shame, and pain and anger at his own weakness.

Whenever he was alone and not with Conrad he cried. He cried in terrible sadness just to think that sometime, sometime soon, Conrad could be gone, never to return.

And he prayed through his tears, to any god who might listen to him, to please not let Conrad die now, not like this… because he wanted more time with Conrad… He still wanted Conrad to be by his side as he advanced in life… he wanted to be able to make Conrad smile, proud of him. He cried and pleaded with fate, because Conrad held one very important key to his heart, and he did not want to lose him.


End file.
